Saturday, July 30, 2016

Did you hear the one about the politician who died; went to
limbo, and was given the chance of choosing between heaven & hell?
He would get to spend a week in each place before deciding where he'd
spend eternity, and started off with heaven.
He found it comfortable, but boring, he felt alone because he didn't
know anyone, and the music was weird. When he began his trial week in hell the
politician immediately ran into all his old friends, who were apparently having
a permanent party. Everyone was
drinking, cavorting, and indulging every deviant whim. There was a feast for kings, with every kind
of food imaginable; and a new concert every night.

Seven days went by faster than the dead politician thought,
and soon he was back in limbo, it was time to choose between heaven and
hell. Without a second thought the
politician said he was ready to go re-join all his friends in hell; and so was
transported back there instantly. Everything
he'd seen before was now gone, the landscape was bleak and burning, with
starving rats gnawing at his heels.
There was no food to be seen and all his friends were burning in
agony. The politician cried out that
this wasn't right, demanded to know what happened. His guide calmly explained it to him; "Well sir you see, last week was the
campaign, today you voted!"

So here we are with the convention hysteria behind us;
bracing ourselves for the next 100 days of psy-war-ops
known as political ads hammering us whenever we dare go near any kind of media:
topped off with the coronation of a new president.

What does it say about the current state of things that when
Michelle
Obama spoke at the convention she was wearing body armor under her
dress? It was so obvious I almost
mistook her for a Star Wars storm trooper.
What it says is that despite all security precautions in place, they
weren't confident they could protect her.
I'm not saying she shouldn't wear body armor; I'm saying she shouldn't have to.
A sad reality; things aren't supposed to be this way.

Politicians are thieves by nature, they want something; they
just take it. An excellent example is
how they steal music as background for their campaigns, ads, and ceremonies. In nearly every instance they ignore copyright
& royalties because they want a
particular song. Yeah, I can hear some
of you saying that's pretty minor; but my point is if they do not respect
personal intellectual property rights, it's a character flaw. Steal a little -
steal a lot. I am reasonably sure that
some who get into politics are sincerely wanting to bring positive change and
reform; it's just that the whole system is so corrupt it assimilates & corrupts everyone involved. It's like
trying to swim without getting wet.

"I
alone can fix it."

The story going around the media pundits is that Ohio
governor John Kasich was approached by Trump to be his running mate; with Trump
reportedly telling Kasich he could be in charge of foreign & domestic affairs. (The job of
the president) When Kasich asked what Trump would be doing instead
of foreign & domestic affairs, the
answer was, "Making America Great
Again." Comments like that
don't come from thinking people, they come from reading your script, playing
your part. The words of a puppet.

Trump is the big blunt instrument hammering us with fear & fakery.
For all his hype and vitriol, Trump simply has no substance. He is a hate doll who spews out sound bites
on cue whenever his string is pulled.
He's a human hot air balloon, er, make that Buffoon. Have you really
listened to him speak? All he brings are
short, easy to remember sound bites that have zero substance beyond fanning the
flames of intolerance and racism. He has
no "platform" other than instigating hatred among Americans, driving
us apart.

Trump speaks with a distinctive cadence & rhythm that tends to put listeners into
an Alpha state of consciousness, exactly
the same as when watching TV or a movie.
This makes it so easy to then plant the seeds of hatred with his caustic
remarks-plant them right in your head.
He appeals to a range of people who are disenfranchised citizens; and
feeling abandoned by the government.
It's all just empty rhetoric. He
has no plan for this country except to exploit it financially like he does with
everything he touches: he's playing a role, reading his lines. A vacuous bag of bovine excrement!

Everything about Trump (in his words) is always the biggest, the
best, the most amazing. The last time I
heard bragging like that it was on the schoolyard,
and the bragger was trying desperately to conceal his own incompetence and shit
personality. All that bluster & luster has to be hiding something. You'll please notice that outside of his
family, nobody else on the planet speaks that way about Trump. How much money you have isn't as important as
how you got it; and in Trump's case that means not paying the folks who work
for you, then filing serial bankruptcy's to cheat the system. Just another crook.

Not only does Trump openly admire Russian tough-guy leader
Putin; he openly invites the Russians to continue hacking American computer
systems!! I am 100% certain that those
words constitute a violation of the patriot
act and likely even qualifies as treason yet you watch, he will
suffer no consequence from his actions. Just like he suffered no consequence for
openly advocating genocide by taking out the families of terrorists. Trump openly admires and compliments not only
Putin, but Saddam Hussein as well. North
Korea's demented psychopathic leader "Un"
thinks Trump is his kind of guy, and is probably in business with him. If Trump's role models are these psychotic
dictators, what kind of leader do you suppose he'd be? Willing to risk it, are ya?

These issues never seem to come up in the daily "news
cycle" because he is reading the script prepared for him. The closer we get to the
"selection" of president, the scarier he will become; sending
'voters' running for Hillary's protection.
Totally lacking in substance, Trump refuses to make his tax records
public, invites Russia
to cyber hack American citizens, and begs his followers not to watch Clinton's
convention speech. What is he so afraid
of, that he would be seen for just what he is?

"It takes a villain"

Hillary was well rewarded for standing aside in 2008, and
told that 2016 would be her time.
Unfortunately her reputation and record are so bad; the only person out
of a field of 17 she could maybe beat,
is Trump!

Hillary's convention spotlighted as many blacks and
minorities as they could get to show up on stage - still pandering for votes. Regardless of all image management efforts,
let us not forget that Hillary's biggest backer is still Goldman Sachs, and that she
recently evaded criminal charges by the skin of her teeth; I guess you could
say that neither Hillary or Trump have any convictions. Don't lose sight of the fact that according to
recent polls, 62% of Americans distrust her.

Remember Vince Foster
long time Clinton friend, business
associate and rumored to be Hillary's secret lover? You remember, he had a falling out with the Clintons
and then threatened to expose their criminal actions; then suddenly changed his
mind and opted for suicide instead. It
is altogether chilling to realize that his name is just one of over 75 Clinton
'friends & associates' who died under
mysterious circumstances. How about that?

Now factor in that Chelsea
Clinton&Ivanka Trump are close friends, as are their husbands. The Clintons
and Trumps have been friends for years, except for this year's staged
street theater election process...and when it's all done they'll remain
friends. It's all a sham, a great
shining lie; no more "real" than professional wrestling. It's just more heft & hype.

Both Trump and Hillary picked unknown lackluster running
mates who totally represent the 1% of powerful rich elites &their interests. Absolute clones of Joe Biden!! The only
difference between them is that Pence
is more open with his bigoted stupidity and racist views. Both of them are as white as white can
get. Are there no minority politicians
qualified to be vice president? Just the
same old stagnation with different white names &
faces. Nothing changes!

Doesn't it seem just cozy comfortable for the ruling elite
that we only have the "two party system?" Why not three or even four major
parties? The only thing multiple
political parties would change is the elite's chances of staying in control of
things. Don't expect any kind of reform
in your, or your children's lifetime; it simply won't be permitted.

The electoral college is the centerpiece
of the 2-party system, the one which ensures that the people's voice isn't
allowed to influence election outcomes.
Despite and aside from whoever gets the "popular vote" the
electoral college is under no obligation to name that
candidate as the new president. The fix
is always in, and I kinda believe we've always known that, and ignored it. You can see how well that has worked out for
us, right??

With these people it's always wedge issues, guns, race, gender
identity, gay rights. The goal is to
drive us apart and against one another, hitting us at our weakest points. It's
always the same thing just before every presidential election; they make a big
stink over guns, which creates the fear that they'll come for our guns,
resulting in ever-increasing gun sales.
Its always the same; politicians make all kinds of promises during the
un-relenting campaign process, which are forgotten the moment a winner is
declared. Remember how Obama promised to
close Gitmo? It's still there
isn't it? Nothing changes.

The strategy is to appeal to peoples emotions, their
feelings; then they convince them their feelings are the same as facts. Never has there ever been a more destructive
example of false equivalency. How you
feel about any given subject is just that, a feeling. Because you feel a certain way does not give
your feeling the status of fact. It's
just a feeling. You may want it to be
fact, but that is just wishful
thinking, not factual unless it happens to match the facts.

Because the greedy elite never leave anything to chance they
also employ an array of anti-voter tactics &
dirty tricks: like closing 75% of the polling locations in minority filled
urban areas. Like requiring voter ID
cards which are difficult for some folks to obtain. Like removing 80% of the voting machines in
some precinct polling places, forcing urban voters to stand on line for hours
just to vote; and of course the paperless Diebold
electronic voting machines which anyone with a computer can hack.

"Politics" ~ Poli= many. Tics= Blood sucking parasites

Not a single speaker at either convention mentioned the Fukushima
dilemma, what with the death of the pacific ocean and dead sea life littering
pacific beaches, you'd think it might have come up. Nope, just fear mongering and name calling. Not a single speaker at either convention
mentioned fracking, or BP's lingering toxification of the gulf of Mexico. None of them mentioned keeping our children
safe from pedophile priests in the clergy, yet another forbidden
subject. No speaker at either convention
addressed the four+ year drought in California,
or the dying Colorado river. They never want to address real issues that
affect everyone every day, just fear &
loathing. Nothing Changes.

How about your soul, your spirit, did any politician bring that into the dialogue? Nope, they prefer to distract us from
thinking about our soul, and how much more of this insanity our spirit can
take.

As I predicted in a recent post, cop assassinations are now
happening almost every day since the RNC
convention opened. It's happening so
frequently it almost certainly is a planned orchestration; designed to keep the
fires of racism burning like a running fuse.

Is it possible that the elites are intentionally ramping up
towards the declaration of martial law?
It's a distinct possibility because it's a certain way to keep the
powers that be in power and in control...control over us, not to put too fine a
point on it!

All politicians speak with glowing admiration for "Our
Veterans" when they want to send even more young men into harms way to die
for Exxon & Standard oil; or when
they want to appear patriotic; but how about when vets survive and come home to
resume life. The flip side of that coin
isn't nearly so shiny! You may recall
the ongoing scandal with the Veterans
Administration, after more than 40 vets died waiting for an
appointment! Well folks, I AM a Vietnam
veteran who has dealt with the VA for many years. Let me just tell you a few things for the
sake of clarity.

The VA is designed
to be ineffectual, slow and archaic.
Their mandate is NOT to help as many vets as possible; but rather to
delay having to pay disability &
medical claims for as long as possible.
The VA has many tricks to make
this happen, and the very worst is their computer system. Oh the system is modern enough; but the VA
policies allow no files to be added by any mass storage device, (USB
flash drive, Fax, scanner,
etc.) Another particularly nasty trick
is the VA refusal to let vets communicate with their doctor or psychologist via
phone, email or any other means except an in person appointment. By slowing down the speed at which
information intake is done, the VA holds onto taxpayers dollars as long as
possible...while vets die waiting to be seen.

In my own case, the VA denied my claim for disability
benefits a total of four years before finally giving in and approving my
claim. The law said they owed me 4 years
back pay for denied benefits, but in the end they stiffed me, only paid for 2
years. Cheap greedy bastards.

Money isn't the only reason for the criminal neglect from
the VA, as always there are ulterior motives; and in this case they show their
true colors. Think about it for a
minute: You could fill several sport stadiums and more with just veterans from
our various wars of conquest. If they
ever became healthy and politically organized, the veteran population at best
would be a voice the elites don't want the people to hear, and a powerful
voting lobby. Veterans know which dirty
deeds were done, and where the evidence and bodies are buried; and if angered
would represent an armed & trained
military force within the country. A
military force of angry vets demanding justice is something they have faced in
the past, and they don't want a repeat scenario now.

Once in the VA 'health care' system; the policy is heavy
medications to subdue the symptoms, with little or nothing being done to help
the tormented soul having those symptoms.
When you add that to criminal obfuscations &
delays is it any wonder a veteran commits suicide 22 times a day? This is a national disgrace, simple as that. The VA spends millions yearly on absurd
outdoor
artwork at their many locations, including a 2 million dollar
rock!! The VA facility I go to turned 2
acres of prime parking in front of their brand new building; into a peace
garden full of no trespassing signs.
Great, they give us a peace garden we're forbidden to enter; then force
us to walk 65 yards to the front door.
Perfect, just perfect!

Ever wonder why it is that every presidential election we
can only have two people to choose from, and they're both greedy criminals, or
a criminal and an oaf, or variations thereof?
Despite all the vitriolic rhetoric from both 'parties' and despite all
the flowery talk of hope and the American dream; nothing changes. Back when
we still had a few honorable people in politics some of them tried to tell us,
tried to warn us; but we did not listen, we did not care. It could be that we are about to learn the
price of all that upwardly mobile apathy.

Monday, July 18, 2016

As a small child one of my favorite times of year was when
the circus came to town; the larger than life extravaganza was a feast for the
senses and a wonderment to behold. All
these long years later it's all so very different. There is no longer any need to wait for the
circus because the power elite have turned everyday life into the greatest show
on earth, and P.T. Barnum is rolling in his grave!

With their weapons of
mass distraction, and using fear as the prime motivator; they have
consistently & steadily kept applying
pressure at all our weakest points.
Turning the heat up gradually, the same way ya cook a lobster. Herding us like cattle into the direction of
their choosing, (the slaughterhouse) all while telling us the choice is our
own.

I remember how it used to be, back when we were only
bombarded with election stuff for a brief time prior to the election. Ahhh, sweet nostalgia! In the nervous now, the election cycle never
ends and we are so inundated with all the crap, lies & bullshit that we no longer care who
"wins" so long as it's over...for a little while...before it all
starts over again. It's all designed to
keep us off balance and apathetic, and it's working.

So here we are at convention time, the biggest spectacle of
them all; and if the last year of Donald Trump is any indication, we are in for
a real crowd pleaser of a time; that is if your tastes run towards chaos and
pandemonium. This openly racist totally
fabricated and phony blow hard Trump was carefully selected and designed from
the bottom up to be a wedge used for driving Americans apart to the point of
actually instigating and provoking open violence at many Trump events. Originally they were going to use him
earlier, which is why he raised such a media hype out of Obama's birth
certificate. However, the shot callers
of the power elite decided to hold trump as their battering ram for this
election. You can tell he is the power
elite puppet because he was the only candidate whose comments on twitter were
regularly treated as Breaking News.

These people leave absolutely nothing to chance with
stakes as big as they currently are. If
voting actually was permitted to change things according to the will of the
people it would be illegal tomorrow morning.
The fix has always been in, and if you are doubtful of this go up on
YouTube and watch President Eisenhower's farewell speech. With nearly total use of the notorious
Diebold voting machines the power elite can determine any election result they
desire, simple as that. Just to make
certain sure; they also conduct various efforts to get minority names removed
from voting registrars, disqualify certain votes, and telling our servicemen
and women who they're to vote for. They have every angle covered.

"I
think you're overestimating humanity."

It is the circus of the absurd, and I for one have seen more
than enough. Can anyone please tell me
exactly how much longer we're gonna accept this shit as our unalterable
reality?? I need to know - I got
plans. We all understand that the fix is
in and corruption always gets it's way but we've just conditioned ourselves to
ignore it and be content with the little things in life when we find them. Are you not yet tired of them bombarding us
with fear in all its many forms 24 hours a day?
What a way to run a planet!!

What was the biggest news story just before the Dallas
event? Hillary getting off the hook and
everyone yelling "foul"...
Just as people were starting to suspect the fix was in on her evading
prosecution; just as some very good questions were being
asked, five cops assassinated in Dallas sucks the wind from the room and
Hillary from the headlines.

I watched the entire news coverage of the event as it
unfolded, watched it for several hours and recorded much of it. Looking for evidence of a false flag attack, I didn't see it right
away, but it was right there in front of everyone: Where were all the ambulances? In every other terrorist attack we always see
a fleet of ambulances scurrying about tending to the dead and wounded, but not
at Dallas, why not? Where were they?

With Clinton and Trump tied at 40% each going into the
convention this week and all the headlines about the Clintons strong-arming the
judicial system; they just couldn't risk her losing any momentum, so they
sacrificed five cops on the altar of Hillary Clinton to change the subject of
the national discourse to racism. Let
that one sink in for a minute, and then realize that Trump's only purpose has
been to scare people into voting for Hillary despite their dislike & distrust of the woman.

Other big false flag
indicators are how the newscasters had to remind us every ten minutes that this
all happened a block or two from Dealey plaza where JFK was assassinated...and
the fact it happened on 7/7, one of those numerological number pairings the
power elite like so much; like 9/11.

"In the land of the blind; a one-eyed man is King."

For the first 30 to 45 minutes of news coverage everyone spoke about multiple shooters
in multiple locations, even the Dallas
chief of police, and his patrol officers.
You could hear gunfire on the video clips they played; and as a combat
veteran I can assure you there was definitely more than one
heavy rifle firing. There was footage of
a black Mercedes being stopped after two people tossed a camouflaged bag in it
and drove away from the scene, but the police let them go!! There was also a "spectator" armed
with an AR-15 assault rifle, whom the Dallas
police also let go without arrest or even holding for questioning! Then, suddenly as if someone threw a light
switch off, all anyone talked of from that point was a lone gunman, just
exactly like with JFK.

Just like with Lee
Harvey Oswald; Micah Xavier Johnson is
credited with single handedly firing every shot fired, killing five and
wounding seven more, not counting civilians.
More god damned "magic bullets" and superhuman ability. And
just like Oswald; Johnson was killed (in
a parking structure) before he could talk.
How very fucking convenient. They
made a big deal of Johnson having been a combat veteran, that's a half truth,
he was in the rear with the gear, and never saw combat, and did not receive the
kind of training necessary to shoot at superhuman levels, he was a carpenter! I call Bullshit on the entire affair, more
lies, more deceit. Are YOU buying it??

The power elite are poking the bear; trying earnestly to
start a race war, with Trump as their cheerleader, egging on his followers to
partake; and terrifying voters into supporting Clinton.
So, what it boils down to in this 'election' year, after all the hoopla,
debates and schoolyard insults, is that the American voter is left with
choosing between two of the most evil and despised people ever to run for the
presidency. You really OK with that? It looks like we may be in for one long hot
shitstorm of a summer.

Is it mere coincidence that Comcast cable added
"Straight Outta Compton" to
their lineup the weekend before the conventions?

How about the fact that Trump has received $30 million worth of free media coverage in his bid for the presidency? Is that Fair, is that American? The media gave him all that free coverage because this is all a circus and he's playing his role.

Leaving nothing to chance, the RNC
spit in the face of free speech by denying a roll call vote before the convention
even began; preventing delegates not loyal to Trump the chance to voice their
opinion. Democracy or Dick move, you
decide! When the biggest celebrities
Trump can get (pay) to speak on his behalf at the convention are such mega stars as Scott Baio, Antonio Sabato Jr. and some
guy from Duck Dynasty; it kinda says
it all!

Is it really just another coincidence that there
were three more policemen killed in Baton Rogue, Louisiana
on the opening day of the RNC
convention?? How come all the
"news" networks are covering the convention instead of the killing of
three more cops? Kinda shows where their
priorities are.

What the power elite are trying to do is keep humanity below the threshold of evolution; in a
state of arrested development ... they believe they can actually change the
course of human evolution like one would a river. Why do we continue to live this way; letting
psychopathic monsters run the world into ruin while we settle for whatever
crumbs of joy we may find, as our freedoms and liberty are eroded away a piece
at a time??

"When
you argue in favor of your limitations, you get to keep them!"

The back to back terror attacks are the power elite trying
to keep us all so off balance and frightened of the future that we follow their directives and wishes in blind faith. Why does it always come down to the lesser of
two evils, when we still end up with evil calling the shots? The devil you know is still a devil! Can we aspire to nothing greater?

With a second street assassination of cops they aren't
poking the bear any more, they're kicking him in the balls and setting him on
fire. How much more do you suppose the
bear is going to take? If there are more
of these targeted assassinations of cops; and maybe even some violence at
Trump's convention it'll be a custom tailored recipe for the imposition of martial
law. If that happens; among a myriad of
other things it will almost certainly herald the beginning of the power elite's
endgame, and the final death gasp of liberty. Maybe that is why in his fiery speech at the
convention Rudy Giuliani said "There
will be no more elections"
Hmmm, what a thing to say.

Is it just a coincidencethat whoever wrote
Melania Trump's opening speech lifted key segments verbatimright out
of Michelle Obama's 2008 convention
speech? Hell, these people cannot even
use their own words when lying thru their teeth; how are we supposed to accept
this kind of charade with a straight face? Melania said she wrote the speech herself with as little help as possible;
so did she plagiarize Michelle Obama's speech from eight years ago thinking
nobody would notice? Somebody did! Or maybe it was a dirty trick, how hard would it be to hack into a teleprompter? In reality it's doubtful that either woman wrote any speeches, they hire speech writers for that; so really it was one speech writer plagiarizing another. A circus by any other name is still a circus.

A scene filmed on the convention floor perfectly sums it all up. A young woman is seen carrying a sign saying "No Racism - No Hate" and being chased around by some guy trying to cover her sign up with an American flag! Laugh if you must, but just remember, we laughed the first time W. ran for office too, didn't we. The only thing worse than Clinton winning, is Trump winning. OMG!!

When will we as a citizenry finally understand that the
system isn't broken as so many politicians bemoan in their speeches; it was designed
to function exactly how it does with the rich, powerful & greedy types keeping the rest of us under
their thumb. If you really think you
still have the constitutional right of Free Speech, try going out and
practicing a little of it in public - see what happens!

I've been watching the exact same dog & pony show over presidential elections for
several decades now, and it just never changes.
I really used to think that by this time a grass roots reform movement
would have grown strong enough to overthrow the dynasty of greedy old white
people, but, alas, the old bastards never leave anything to chance. During the Vietnam war citizens filled the
streets in the thousands; and even shut down cities and government in
protest. Where is all the rage now? Why aren't you fuckers all filling the
streets and shutting the place down in protest....oh yeah, chemtrails & GMO food, I almost forgot for a
minute. Brief luxury.

"I'm
tired now, and my balls are low"

Those of us who have always dreamed about and tried to
create a better world to leave our children are not upset for our own sake; but
for that of our progeny. I'll tell you
here and now we very well may have waited too long for others to build that
better world, but what the hey, better late than never, right? The whole entire great shining lie is off
balance just now, faltering under the weight of it's own corruption. What do ya say we collectively give them a
shove over the edge and take this place over in the name of sanity. Or do we have to wait
until the flames of the next race riot are visible from our homes before we
decide to act?

Monday, July 4, 2016

What with everything that's been going on over the last
couple of years; you may not have noticed all the civilian drones buzzing around at a steadily increasing rate. Last Christmas season they say over two million drones were bought as
gifts. Sure, a few days later the number
was dramatically smaller, due to crashes &
accidents, but still, that's a lot of drones, or quadcopters as they are more correctly called.

Hardly a day goes by without a news story about drones, in addition to the news using them to film stories. Drones have become standard equipment for all types of video production and movie making. Just like the personal computer, drones are here to stay whether we like it or not. "Drones" have a bad rap going into any discussion due to the familiar military use of armed UAV's; but there are an almost limitless number of peaceful, civilian applications.

Oh they're out there alright, and in a mind-numbing array of
sizes and styles; everything from video capable nano drones you can hide in your hand, to the prosumer and professional
camera drones used by major news networks, agriculture, private security,
photographers, architecture, and engineering just to name a few applications.

Remote controlled aircraft have been around for quite a
while; I got my first at about 14 years old, and have kept the interest ever
since. Just in the last few years there
have been many improvements and advancements in the industry; resulting in
fairly sophisticated flying machines that come RTF, ready to fly right out of the box.
The advancements in such craft are such that anyone can learn how to fly
fairly quickly. Today's consumer drones
are way more robust and durable than their predecessors of even five years ago.

By far the biggest market segment is hobby drones which
range from the very small and relatively inexpensive Nano drones all the way up to Prosumer
drones costing hundreds of dollars.
After the Nano drones are the Mini-quadcopters
(and Hexacopters) which are more or
less palm sized. Then there are
mid-range drones which are much larger than minis, yet smaller & lighter
than the more expensive types.

Nano drones are very small but packed with some nice
features, including wi-fi and FPV capable.
(FPV is First Person Viewand indicates that the drone is controlled by smartphone or tablet which lets the pilot see thru
the drones camera to fly & navigate, in addition to visually.) These little drones have a micro SD card slot to store videos which can then be
transferred to computer. Primarily for
indoor use; these little drones tend to not fare too well in windy outdoor
conditions. Easy to loose something so
small in a gust of wind. They all come
with red & blue LED running lights which are helpful when
searching for a downed drone.

Nano drones have small permanent LiPo (lithium polymer) batteries
which cannot be swapped out. Average
flight time is about five minutes tops, and recharging the battery takes 20 to
40 minutes depending on make & model. The software for small hobby drones is open source which means most of them are
using the same exact software regardless of company or brand. Almost all of these nano and mini drones are
made in China,
and customer service can be hit or miss, which is why the smaller, cheaper
drones are considered by many as disposable.

As for the mini-drones they are basically a step up in size
and performance. Most all drones in this
class have replaceable batteries and the majority have cameras. There are also some models built specifically
for speed & stunts, and without a
camera adding weight, they fly longer and are more agile as a rule.

Unlike hobby helicopters of the past, today's drones are
rugged and durable little flyers that bounce back time and again from hard
impact crashes. They are fairly
sophisticated, featuring novice, normal &
advanced flight modes. In the advanced
mode you get some aggressive flight capabilities and acrobatic tricks such as
flips & rolls.Some of the smaller drones are now equipped with FPV but the thing is they rely on using a smart
phone as the controller; and regardless the app used, phones do not give you
the degree of control and response that you get from a transmitter
controller.

While it is generally true that learning to fly small drones
well builds skill sets that will help when flying larger drones; the reverse is
not so true. You want to start small and
work your way up to the bigger, more serious drones.

LiPo batteries need to cool down once drained, and should
not be recharged for 15 to 20 minutes after use. Not observing this cool down period will soon
fry the battery & possibly even the
circuit board. The Chinese who make
these by the thousands for sale on Amazon &
other sites use angel hair wires which being so thin can both melt from over
heating, and break upon repeated severe crash impact.... and accordingly if you
want your drone to continue working properly it's wise to not overheat the
motors & motherboard by using several
batteries in one flying session. Because
they generate heat; LiPo batteries should always be charged safely on a
non-conducting surface; and never left unattended as they can cause fires if basic
precautions are not followed. Many of
the serious users are using inexpensive asbestos battery bags for charging & storage; a wise precaution.

First Person View (FPV) is easily the most popular feature
on consumer and prosumer drones; which is why it is now being incorporated in even
the smallest units available. Being able
to see thru the camera adds a new dimension to flying with confidence and is
really a lot of fun. (see videos below)As mentioned, many of
the less expensive hobby drones now come FPV capable & most of them use you
smart phone as the controller. While
this may be easy and convenient, cell phone apps do not give the degree of
adjustment or control you need for flying, and there is usually a small lag
time in streaming the video - which can cause crashes. A radio controller gives you the ability to
fully adjust the drones flight trimming etc, quicker response to controls, and
a faster video feed. For these
capabilities you'll want a dedicated controller with the view screen built in;
and possibly even a FPV headset.

Invariably when humans get ahold of something new, before
long they'll find a way to have races, and drones are certainly no
exception. In fact, drone racing has
become so popular that starting this summer cable sports networks are covering
major drone races; so consult your local listings. Empty sports arenas and underground parking
structures have been favorite racing locations in the past few years; and as
drone popularity increases, more professional and challenging venues are being
designed for drone racing. They do a lot
of drone racing in Dubai, and
it's coming soon to a city near you!

The fastest growing segment of the drone market is for units
in the $500.00 to $1200.00 dollar and up range, generally used for extreme sports,
travel, professional photography and network newscasts. These
higher end drones boast features such as GPS, one button launch,
auto-hover, "follow me mode", headless flying mode, and one button
return home function. Some of the more
sophisticated units can use two controllers, two people: one flies the
quadcopter while the other operates the camera, with everything wi-fi to phone,
tablet or FPV headset.

Most of the higher end prosumer
and professional drones are automatically prevented from operating in FAA
restricted airspace such as airports, etc.
There is a 500 foot altitude limit set by the FAA, but most higher end
drones can go much, much higher after switching off the restrictive
setting. California
and a few other states already have laws which prohibit the flying of drones in
places where privacy is expected and around schoolyards. The higher end drones usually have a feature
which establishes flight boundaries, which should keep good relations with the
neighbors. Good time to mention that there is a $25,000 dollar fine for flying an unregistered drone in public spaces; so be legal, be safe!

Click Image to Enlarge

Just recently the FAA announced new drone regulations taking
effect this year. A lot of folks were
concerned that they would even further limit the use of drones, and a lot of
folks were surprised because essentially the FAA
opened the whole thing up for expansive growth.
Now, those who wish to use a drone for personal or commercial purposes
have only to complete some basic requirements to become legal & licensed; exactly like operating a car or
any other vehicle. The FAA even came up with a new acronym for use across
the 'drone' landscape. They didn't want
to use "UAV" as that's a
military designation, so UAS is the
new designation: Unmanned Aircraft
Systems, for drones and all multi-rotor radio controlled aircraft.

Drones are being used for an ever widening field of
applications these days as people are seeing the advantages of having a bird's
eye view of things. There is an entire
classification of security drones as
that is a fast growing market in and of itself; including a set & forget autonomous patrol drone system with HD video.
Developers are using drones to monitor construction site progress,
Ranchers use them to monitor livestock and the "south 40". Drones are also put to work monitoring large
estates, vineyards, and farms. The
police use them, and so does the forestry service; for search & rescue, and fire watch.

"Drones
aren't going anywhere - in fact they're going everywhere"

~Good Kill~

A while back my brother and I were flying a drone on my
property, and before long the nearby trees were full of squawking blue jays; a
group protest to defend their air space from a strange and noisy intruder. Then last week we had our drones at a friends
ranch 30 miles away out in the country.
After we'd been flying and doing stunt flips & rolls for a while we
noticed a canyon hawk cruising above the drone.
He was definitely checking the drone out, as a few minutes later he
drifted by again, so we landed the drone.
About a minute later the canyon hawk cruised by just above roof level,
looking below him for the drone. When we
sent the Traxxas Aton drone aloft
again, the bird returned; and again was showing interest in the drone, so we
just kept avoiding it. Within just a few
minutes four more canyon hawks joined the first, and wherever the drone flew,
they were loitering above in a huge circle formation.

A good point to bring up responsible drone
operation. Various wildlife laws insist
upon us humans staying 500 feet from any endangered or protected birds or
animals. In my mind this applies even if
the bird or other animal comes close for a better look. Always do your aerial photography from a safe
distance. An interesting side note; in Germany
and Holland police are using
trained eagles and hawks to bring down drones operating outside the law.

Whenever human desire gets ahold of technology it's usually
a recipe for breaking bad. A good
example are the drone operators who recently flew drones over several of the California
wildfires. On at least four different
fires; desire to get great footage put drones right in the path of the aircraft
fighting the fire from the air; causing them to abort their chemical runs. Pilots like that are going to make it hard
for the rest of us, and create bad press against civilian drone flyers. This civilian drone market is still young and
many of these quadcopters are openly designated as experimental. Yes they're packed with a lot of
technology...technology we consumers are paying to beta test because few of them are letter perfect. One of the most popular high end camera
drones has a reputation for loosing link and falling from the sky, and for
horrible customer service. It's logical
that with so many of one model sold you're going to see a lot of accidents etc,
but customer service should always be five star, and it sometimes isn't. Then there are companies whose customer
service is so good, they actually call you (from China)
to make sure you are satisfied.

What this means is they are going to malfunction now and
then; some models more than others, and when they malfunction, guess who is
held responsible for damages? A five
pound chainsaw flying at 50 mph is something you don't want to loose control of
in a crowded area. Just last week a
woman was hit in the head by a falling drone, so there is always that aspect to
consider. It's worth noting that one should avoid flying drones equipped with GPS near sunrise or sunset, as at those times the earth's electromagnetic field is in flux. Flying in the gloaming hour can cause your drone to behave in an erratic manner, go crazy, or just fly away at top speed.

Fly safely!

Due diligence is the key to happy flying. Before you plunk your money down for a high
end drone in the $500.00 to $3,000.00 range be sure to do your homework first.
Do some in depth Google searches on the make & model of drone you're interested in; especially reviews
from other consumers like yourself.
Beware though, of the "hired
gun" reviewers who were compensated in some way for their "unbiased" review. Just recently Amazon has cracked down on such
endorsements by going after companies engaged in said practice. Also be cautious getting involved in any
drones being sold via one of the crowd funding offers. One should absolutely also investigate the customer support for the purchase you're
considering.

The flying gene is alive and well throughout human society, maybe
we all have a little bit of Icarus in
our blood, the way we sometimes wish we could fly like the birds do. For a while we may be satisfied with Flight Simulators on our computers; but
if the flying gene runs strong in your blood you'll eventually upgrade to
flying 3D in the real world and there has never been a better time than now to
do so.

Some universities and academies are even adding "Drone Classes" to their curriculum.

Once you see your videos taken from a few hundred feet in
the air, you'll be hooked, and your brain will start identifying all the very
cool things a drone can do for you. Someday in the not too distant future;
drones will be as commonplace in the American home as computers are now. ~ "Land
of the free - Home of the drone."